Home > Will the Patriots be drawing up more plays in the dirt this time?

Will the Patriots be drawing up more plays in the dirt this time?

Ian Rapoport Saturday, October 23, 2010

Last week, in the wake of the Patriots win over the Ravens, I detailed a hybrid nickel scheme they used in getting off the field on four third downs to seal it. Either a 1-5-5 or a 3-3-5 (depending on how you view the outside linebackers), it was the magic potion in the overtime victory.

But as we went on in the week, I found out a little more about how it manifested itself, and thought you guys would get a kick out of it.

Did you know that coach Bill Belichick put the package together on the fly?

It was his version of drawing up plays in the dirt. And it worked absolutely and completely. Listen to linebacker Dane Fletcher tell it.

"Yeah, they just said, 'Hey, this is what you’re going to do right now, get in when we tell you, we’re going to make a package right now,' " Fletcher recalled. "I said, 'OK, let’s do it.' Threw a package together real quick in the game and got me in."

Fletcher ended up making two tackles while spying the running back, an unlikely contributor. But anyway, no wonder we hadn't seen that scheme with that personnel before. They simply decided to put it together like that on the sidelines.

Pretty impressive.

"It's a great opportunity when they throw a package together and tell me to get in there and whatnot," said Fletcher, the undrafted free agent linebacker from Montana State. "Just do your job. I feel like I did a pretty good job. I hope that they keep that in mind in the future."

Think the coaches have anything up their sleeve tomorrow vs. the Chargers?